Paper Reed Frame

I needed my daily dose of DIY Saturday morning so I decided to make this cute little frame that I saw in a book in Barnes & Noble Friday night. Does anyone but me enjoy date night to the book store? It was relatively quick and easy to make so I wanted to share the how-to with you guys!


Supplies:
Old Catalogs
A basic frame
Mod Podge
A skinny skewer stick
A glue stick
Scissors

Start by tearing out the pages of a magazine. Don't worry too much about the rough edges. They will get rolled up. I began tearing them out of a Ballard catalog and quickly realized that the reeds were looking a little too monochromatic for my taste so I found an old issue of Pottery Barn Teen to inject a little color in the mix.
Once you have torn out the pages cut them in half lengthwise.

Here comes the boring fun part. Grab a cold drink and a seat on the sofa for this one cause it's gonna take a minute. Make sure that the side of the page you want to actually show is face down. Place your skewer at an angle of the bottom corner of the page like this...


Begin rolling and as you roll keep pulling the skewer out the end so it doesn't get trapped inside. I'm just saying. I guess that could happen, not that I know anything about that.



Once you get pretty close to the end, use a glue stick and dab a bit of glue on the page to help seal it and finish wrapping it up.


Start a pile and keep going. When you think you have enough, make 15 more. Some of them unroll after you cut them once you cut lower than you glued.



Once you have rolled all your pages, lay them out onto the surface that you are covering.


See, here I thought I had enough. Turns out, I needed to make more.

Paint a layer of Mod Podge onto the frame and start placing your reeds how you want them. I suggest cutting them once you have sized them up but if you need to trim after they are glued down, that's okay too.



If you have sides that will be visible, cover those too.


I decided to add a frame to the frame just to cover up some of my ends that didn't want to lay exactly right then I gave the whole thing a coat of Mod Podge to give it a little shine and hardness.


Lay it out to dry a bit so your reeds don't wiggle out of place.


During the boring part drying action, you can clean up your mess and go find the cutest picture you can of you and your sweetie.



After its dried a while, pop in your photo and admire your handiwork.




Get to rolling!